Hello Creative Friends,

I am not Catholic, but right now I see myself entering the blogging confessional, mumbling under my breath, "Forgive me readers, for I have sinned."

You, should you play out this little fantasy of the mind with me, say, "Oh, yeah, What's your lame-assed excuse this time?"

I have a bevy of them;  A plethora; A mountain; oh hell,  I gotta million of 'em.

It's the heat. 

My feet swell if I sit at my desk too long.

I am burned out, not just from the heat.

I am apathetic.

I'd rather be somewhere else.

I'm not feeling vey creative.

On and on.

So I am humbly asking for your forgiveness as I don't write my newsletter or belly up to this computer to make this blog/website better.

I'll be back as soon.  I just have a little swinging to do.

Hugs, Diana

How to Add a Watermark Using Picnik

Hello Creative Friends,

Here are directions on how to add a watermark to your photos using www.picnik.com

1.    Upload a photo of your artwork from your computer by clicking on the upload button on the front page of  www.picnik.com

2.    Do any editing you want to do and when you are finished, click on the CREATE tab.  A new screen will open.

3.    Across the CREATE tab, you will see some options.  Click on TEXT.
4.    Click on the box that says “Type here.”

5.    Decide on what you want your watermark to say and type it in the box. (Your name, blog name, website, or the word: watermark.  Whatever you wish.) I've decided to use www.dianameade.com

6.    When you are finished typing, click ADD. 

You will see the lettering appear over on your photo in white.  It will be too large to fit onto your photo until you use your mouse to bring the corner of the box to make it smaller.  Play with it until you get the size you want. 

 

At the center/top of the box there is a little circle sticking up from the box.  Use your mouse to move that circle to make your watermark go across the page at an angle if you want to.

7.    While you are sizing the watermark, a TEXT PROPERTIES BOX will open and give you the option to change colors by clicking on a color with your mouse.

8.    When you are happy with location, color and font of your watermark, you have just a few more steps left.

9.    Using the slider under the word FADE, use it to make your watermark transparent until you have it like you desire.

For this example, I used 70%.

10.    You can use the UNDO button to fix something you don’t like and if you click on your watermark after the text properties box has gone away, it will reappear.

 

11.    Click on SAVE and SHARE to send your photo back to the front page so you can save it.

12.    THIS IS IMPORTANT:  You have changed your original photo!!!!  If you just click “save”, Picnik will overwrite your original and you will no longer have this photo without a watermark.  This could be a problem!!!  To prevent heartache, rename your newly watermarked photo.

13.  I hope you have not pulled your hair out trying to make this work and I hope this helps.

Hugs, Diana

Sitting On Your Genius

Not expressing creativity can cause all manner of havoc in a person’s life.  Creativity is a part of who we are, just like our spirit, our sexuality, our intellect and our intuition.  

Gay Hendricks, PHD, one of the leading theorists in the field of body mind integration and the author of over twenty books, including Conscious Living, The Corporate Mystic, The Centering Book and Learning to Love Yourself, was quoted in an interview:

“If you sit on your genius, if you sit on your creativity and don’t share it with the world, it will really eat you up. Having seen 20,000 people in my seminars and therapy sessions over the years, I can definitely attest to that because I think the greatest source of pain on our planet is not, for example, hunger, it is unexpressed creativity.  As I travel around the world, no matter what continent I’m on, it is that un-owned, unexpressed potential that is such a painful thing for so many people.”

Unexpressed creativity is the greatest source of pain?  This is a mighty and powerful declaration and yet I believe it to be true for myself.  I have experienced the pain of yearning to follow a creative inclination and not be able to do so, if only because I couldn’t name it well enough to follow through.  Perhaps many people don’t recognize that yearning or restlessness or disinterest or depression can be a symptom of unexpressed potential.

So what happens when we sit on our genius?  What happens when we don’t allow what is inside us to come forth?   My belief is that we create an internal conflict that we begin to act out.  We deny.  We justify.  We excuse.  We find conscious or unconscious ways to explain why we aren’t using and sharing our genius.  Ultimately our greatest creative endeavor is to create reasons why we tolerate not to sharing who we are through our creativity.  Time passes; opportunity passes; and yet we don’t act on our soul’s desire and we waste our potential.

When we sit on our genius we risk a powder keg of energy that must go somewhere.  If it is not used to create, what will this powerful energy be used for?  To forward someone else’s dream?  To create drama in our life? To adopt addictions to keep us busy so we don’t notice how painful it is to deny who we are?
 
Creativity is from spirit.  It is one of the animators of the soul.  It causes us to act.  It pulls at us.  It whispers to us, "do this, try this, have fun with this."  In the act of creating comes a mirror that allows us to recognize that yes, we are here, yes, what we think, feel and do matters, and yes our ideas are valid, that, in fact, we do have genius.

If you are sitting on your genius, try standing up and shaking your creative bootie.  It could be that’s all you need to begin to discover some unexpressed potential you didn’t know you had. 

Hugs,

Diana

Women in the Visual & Literary Arts Writing Group

Hey WiVLA Writers!  Come join your WiVLA Friends on Tuesday mornings from 9 a.m. until 12 noon. as we get together with our pointy pencils or our clack-ity keyboards to find out what amazing stuff is in our heads.  Sometimes you never know what is whirling around up there until you see it on the page.  This article is a prime example.

Beginning the first week in July continuing through the last week in August, we will meet in the air-conditioned comfort of the SOSA Community Center of Spring Branch at 1414 Wirt Road Houston, TX 77080 to come together to write. 

There will be no lessons or classes and alas, no internet wi-fi.  No one will look over your shoulder or try to copy your work and there will be no head-banging music playing in the background to annoy you.  

We will take breaks!  The community center is a pleasant space that has a refrigerator and microwave we can use.  They will allow food in the room if you want to bring your own snack or your morning coffee.  There are lots of electrical outlets in the room for computers but you might want to bring an extension cord.
 
Some Possible and Perhaps Dubious Benefits of Joining Us:

1.    Writing is lonely work.  Having a weekly place to go hang out and write with like minded women is priceless.  You will feel more writerly.   Besides, it’s too early to drink.

2.    You will be more disciplined and motivated to honor your writing commitment if you know your WiVLA friends are expecting you and will hunt you down if you are a no-show.

3.    Someone will probably start bringing snacks to share and then there will be talk of having a pot-luck until you are surrounded by food. Then if you can’t think of anything else to write, at least you can use the time to write down recipes.

4.    You will get to know your WiVLA Writer Friends better so you can more consciously avoid them or embrace them.  However, there are some very experienced writers in WiVLA who hopefully will show up so we can watch them squeeze blood out of a turnip just like the rest of us.

5.    Let’s face it; a lot of people don’t “get” writers.  A lot of these people are related to you.  They won’t be there.

6.    I give up.  Think up your own benefits for showing up, like owning that you are a By-God Writer and you write whenever there is an opportunity.  This is a great opportunity.

7.    Did I mention that it’s free?

Come kick a little writing butt.  This offer is only good from July 5th until August 30th.  Your results may vary.

Energize Your Creativity: Take Your Creativity Out and Play With It

Creativity is everywhere and often occurs in the most unexpected of places.  If you want to energize your creativity you need to take your creativity out of its hiding place and play with it.  Here is an example:

I recently attended a birthday party of a woman who turned eighty-six.  With the exception of a few youngsters, there wasn’t a soul there under the age of thirty.  Now my expectations of a good time were slim, that is until someone took out their creativity and got us to playing with it.

The theme for this birthday party was silly hats.  My eighty-six year old friend sported a silly hat and as a tribute to her, all her guests were required to wear one as well.  The night before the party a group of her relatives gathered together small stuffed animals, baseball caps, water toys, artificial flowers and balloons to create the funniest, amazing and creative silly hats.  Mine was a green beanie with a stuffed worm and a flower attached to it.

Energize Your Creativity by taking out your creativity and playing with it. Here are a bunch of oldsters playing and having fun
What an icebreaker and what a fun!  Who knew?  

I appreciated the creativity that went into making the hats but also the willingness of the participants to play along.  

How play energizes your creativity:

When you use your creativity to produce product with an eye on the outcome, you are using your creativity as a tool.  It can be the guiding force behind some wonderful projects, but it can feel like work—not such a bad thing.  However, when you depend on this creative force to help you with your work, it needs replenishing just as you do.

Too many times we fall in love with some form of creativity only to begin thinking how we can produce more.  One time I painted some flower pots and they were so fun to do that I thought I should paint some and sell them.  Instantly my “creative play” turned into something else that was a demand on my creative time.  My idea of selling the pots and getting them into stores ruined the simple joy of painting something just for fun.

Play is creativity on vacation.  

"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play." - John Cleese

Creativity needs a break from having to perform.  It needs light heartedness and frivolity.  It needs to just be with no expectations or demands.  It needs a day of wearing silly hats.

Play nurtures and soothes creativity.  It can energize your creativity where nothing else can.  Then when your creativity has been energized, it in turn can energize you, your work, your birthday party and your whole life.  

Have a creative week,

Hugs, Diana